Combined piano-player and talking-machine.



W. M. DAVIS. COMBINED PIANO PLAYER AND TALKING MAGHINB. APPLIOATIOH FILED MAY 9, 1910. RENEWED JUNE 10, 1911.

1,01 3,589, Patented Jan. 2, 1912.

st 4 4% Inventor; @b ea%fl UNITED sTArEs PATENT onmoE'.

Warren a. DAVIS, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED PIAlTQ PIaAYER AND TALKING-MACHINE.

Specificationtf Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2,1912.

- Application filed May 9, 1910, Serial No. 5%,250. Renewed June .10, 1911. Serial-No. 632,473.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, WALTER M. Davis, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of New York, borough otMan-,

nism of a piano playing device is automatically started from the talking machine correctly and precisely at the proper time and proper speed.

In the accompanying drawings in which letters Ofmeference indicate like parts in all the figures: Figure l is an elevation of parts of the piano playing device andof the talking machine, parts being in section and parts shown diagrammatically, and others broken away. :Fig. 2 is a detailed plan view of part of the starting mechanism in the piano playing device. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the talking machine disk. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail. sectional View through the disk and support. 7

\Vhen playing by means ofa piano playing mechanism, the piano accompaniment to a musical or like performance, rendered or reproduced by a talking machine, it is absolutely essential that the piano accompaniment shall begin precisely and exactly at the correct time so that the sounds produced by the talking machine and the piano playing mechanism shall be in perfect unison and harmony, as they were in the original. production, in which they were produced by means of the voice or a solo instrun'ient '-ancl an accompanying" piano. The piano playing mechanism and the talking machine may be and preferably are driven from the same source of power, for example, the pumping bellows of the piano playing mechanism, and must be driven at the same relative uniform speed in order to conform to the original production. But a piano playing mechanism and talking machine may also be driven by separate motors which are so timed that the moving parts of the piano playing mechanism and of the talking m'achine have the proper relaver 6 which can be tive speeds that are necessary for proper reproduction of the entire composition.

As the disk of the talking machine is always nioved a greater or less distance before the sounds begin to be produced, and the note sheet of the piano playing mechanism must notbe moved operatively until a certain predetermined spot on the talking machine disk or record has been reached by the needle or stylusfmeans are provided to start the note sheet winding mechanism of the piano playing device at the proper time.

In the specific. embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings, the piano playing mechanism 1, of conventional construction is provided with a conventional Windmot-or 2 deriving its wind fromthe wind chest 3 and the'motor by means of its crank shaft 4.- rotates the music roll, shaft 5 in any well lmown manner. The (music playing device is provided 'with a lemoved over, the scale I 7 and by such movement transmits motion tothe rod 8 which in turn struction of a slide valve by means of which the speed of the motor is controlled as is well known in piano playing instruments. For example, when the lever 6 is at the lower numbers of the scale 7 the motor runs slowly and as the lever6 is shiftedto the higher numbers of the scale the motor runs more rapidly. lVhen this lever 6 is moved to the leftso as to be beyondthe lowest indication of the scale 7, the wind is shut off from the motor 2 entirely and the motor remains at rest, even though the pumping pedals are operated. The lever 9 pivoted at 10 to swing horizontally rests against the extension 11 from a pneumatic or bellows 12'attached to a support 13 so that when this bellows or pneumatic 12 is collapsed the lever 9 is moved in such manner as to swing the lever 6 in the direction of the arrow a; as shown in Fig. 2. The interior of the bellows 12 is connected by 'a tube 14 with a suction chamber and this tube is contricity, such as 'for example a battery 19.

One end or terminal of the electric circuit 18 is connected with a. brush or wiping con- Eact 20 on the talking machine .frame 21 and {the other terminal of this circuit is suitably connected with the-needle or'stylus 22 or its 1 holder of the-talking machine.- I

i The rotating support 23 for the talking 5 machine'reco'rd or disk is provided with an .lannularelectric contact 24: appearing on the upper'and lower surfaces of the support 23. and in contact with the brush or'wiping contact 1.0.1 In the embodiment illustrated the rotating support 23'is secured on the shaft "25fdriven by suitable gearing-26' or power transmitting devices from the crank shaft .21 of a wind motor 28 of the same dimen- 'sion and constructionv as the windmotor 2 1 5 inthe piano player 1 and deriving its m0- ftivewind from the windchest 3 of the piano 7 player through a, branch pipe 29. A contact piece,3() of metal or carbon is embedded ,in the upper surface of the record disk 31 '20 near the rim and flush with the upper surface or substantially so and 'this contact piece 30 is electrically connected with an I embedded wire or strip 32 extending to near the-centerof the disk 31, its free-inner end 25 being exposed on the underside of they disk so that when the disk 31 is placed uponthe support 23, the inner end of this wire 32 contacts with the upper surface of the annular contact 2-1 embedded in the support 30 23. The contact 30 must be so located and embedded in the disk 31 that the stylus or needle 22 contacts with it at the precise mo} ment when the piano playing mechanism is i to begin playing the piano accompaniment. This may be at the precise moment when i song or piece to be rendered, or itmay be a greater or less time before, as it frequently and in fact generally is the case that the ac- 40 companist plays one or more bars before the solo performance, either vocal or instrumental, begins. The disk 31 is placed upon the support 23 in the conventional manner and the needle or stylus 22 placed uponthe upper surface of the disk 31. The lever "6 is placed to zero so as to shut off the motive'power from the motor 2, and fi the pneumatic 12 is expanded. The stop pin'33 is inserted in a suitrble opening so it 0 as to be i'nythe path of the lever 6. when the same is moved'in the direction of the arrow a: this. pin 33 being inserted at that sub division of the scale corresponding to the s eed at which the accompaniment is to be played on the piano player say, for example, 'at70. Then the pumping bellows of the piano player-are operated in the usual manthe disk begins to produce the sounds of the ner and both wind motors 2 and 28 are thus operated and the record disk is rotated but the erforated music sheet, which has been prev ously properly'adjusted on the tracker pneumatic 12 to be collapsed and this in turn 'by means of the lever '9 instantly throws the tempo lever 6 in the direction of the arrow at Fig. 2 until it strikes the pin or obstruction 33 whereby the tempo lever is stopped at and of course the sheet-winding mechanism immediately begins to oper' ate, and to move the sheet at the proper speed, in this case at a speed indicatedv by,

the numeral 7 O on the scale.

Having described -my'inven'tion, what I claim as new and desire to secure by'Letters Patent is p 1-. The combination. of a piano player mechanism, including a' perforated note sheet and a motor means for moving the same, a talking machine, a device for varying and controlling the speed of the saidv paper moving motor means, means for shifting the motor speed controlling device antomatically and means on the talking machine for. inaugurating the shifting ofthe motor speed controlling means, substantially as set forth.

2.'The combination of a piano player mechanism, amusic'roll, a motor for m'oving the music roll, adevice for controlling the-speed ofthis motor, a talking machine and means controlled by the talking machine for shifting the motor speed controlling device, substantially as set forth.

3. The. combination of a piano player mechanism, a music roll, a motor for moving the music roll, afmotor starting device, a talking machine and means controlled by the talking machine for shifting the motor starting device, substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of-New York this 7th day of May, A. D. 1910.

- WALTER M. DAVIS. Witnesses:

OsoAn F. GUNZ, M. E. MGNTNCH. 

